How Many Proxies and How Much Data Do You Need?

Count sessions and data separately

There is no universal one-proxy-per-task buying rule. The answer depends on legitimate concurrency, your tool's connection model, provider session behavior and bandwidth use. One hundred exported lines can share a gateway or even an exit; they are not proof of one hundred unique IP addresses.

For normal manual shopping, you may need no proxy at all. Extra routes do not grant extra purchase eligibility. Follow the retailer's account and quantity limits before planning concurrency.

Four units that are easy to confuse

Unit	What it describes	What it does not prove
Proxy entry	A host, port and authentication configuration	Unique exit or successful target access
Session identifier	A provider instruction to retain a route	Permanent address or reserved inventory
Concurrent connection	Work active at the same time	Number of legitimate shoppers
GB balance	Billable transferred traffic	Fixed number of checkout attempts

Start by recording the number of permitted sessions, how long they will run, which requests they make, and which jobs must maintain state. Check your provider's concurrency and sticky-duration documentation rather than guessing from line count.

Estimate bandwidth from a sample

An illustrative formula in decimal units is:

GB = sessions × requests per hour × hours × average KB per request ÷ 1,000,000

Example: 4 authorized independent sessions, 60 requests per hour, 3 hours and 500 KB per request produce an estimated 0.36 GB. Adding a chosen 25% buffer gives 0.45 GB. These are hypothetical inputs, not measured retailer traffic or a recommendation to poll any retailer at that frequency.

Repeat with a 5,000 KB browser load and the unbuffered result becomes 3.6 GB. This is why task count alone cannot size a plan. Images, scripts, retries and provider billing rules can dominate the result. Measure a small allowed sample using balance changes and compare it with your tool's byte counters.

What to include in your budget

• One-time imports and connectivity checks.
• The actual active window, including waits.
• Permitted retries with a defined stopping rule.
• A contingency that reflects measured variability.
• Remaining validity: unused GB is not useful after the pack expires.

Do not add endless retries to a blocked workflow. Diagnose error responses and stop when access is denied.

Match the result to a RestockRoute pack

Drop Day includes 3GB for $29 with 14-day validity. Restock Pack includes 8GB for $69 with 30-day validity, or $59 monthly. Collector includes 15GB for $119 with 30-day validity, or $99 monthly. Monthly renewal bonuses are +1GB for Restock Pack and +2GB for Collector; they are renewal bonuses, not extra first-order data.

Use the TCG calculator as a conservative scenario aid, then replace its assumptions with your measured usage. If the estimate exceeds 15GB, the largest public pack does not automatically cover it. Review current plans or ask support about the required volume.